Ub Board May Vote To Affiliate With Church

With nowhere else to turn for a bailout, University of Bridgeport trustees may vote tonight to affiliate with an arm of the controversial Unification Church.

The trustees will meet on the beleaguered campus to decide whether to siphon off some of the school's programs to area colleges or to pursue a deal with the New York-based Professors World Peace Academy, a group operated by followers of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon.

Colin Gunn, a Westport lawyer who is chairman of the board, said the offers from area colleges fall $2 million to $3 million short of what is needed to keep UB open past Aug. 15. With the state unwilling to bail out the debt-ridden university, the peace academy proposal of at least $50 million is looking better and better, he said.

"From a financial standpoint, it is the only viable proposal," Gunn said.

Gunn also said Tuesday that the peace academy has been informed that $50 million may not be sufficient to save the university, which loses its accreditation Aug. 15. UB is $22 million in debt. It may take $15 million in the first year, rather than the $10 million initial investment the peace academy proposed last fall, to keep UB open, Gunn said.

A group of faculty this week condemned the affiliation with the peace academy, saying it would jeopardize the independence and credibility of the university.

Leaders of the College of Professional Studies said in a statement that UB would clearly become a subsidiary of Moon's international Unification movement. The college, therefore, has officially requested that the trustees transfer its licensure, accreditation and student records to the University of New Haven.

"The affiliation with the PWPA/Unification Church would devastate the credibility of these programs with the public," Joseph Nechasek, dean of the college, said. "Students have been put in an untenable position."

The peace academy was founded under Moon's direction in Korea in 1983 to sponsor worldwide conferences on issues such as peace, democracy and technology. It now claims 800 members in the United

States and as many as 10,000 worldwide.

Less than 90 percent of its members, who must hold doctorates, belong to the church, academy secretary-general Gordon L. Anderson said Tuesday. But 90 percent of its funding comes from Moon supporters and church members around the world, said Anderson, who became a church member after serving in the Vietnam War.

Moon, who views himself as a messiah, has been talking about establishing a worldwide network of universities for 30 years. If his group takes over UB, it would be the first full-scale university run by the church, Anderson said.

Moon has lined up Japanese and Korean investors willing to fund the UB initiative through their tithes and gifts, Anderson said.

The peace academy, whose original proposal was rejected last fall before UB's financial troubles deepened, is seeking control of UB's board, Anderson said. At least initially, the board and administration would be left in place to seek extensions in accreditation beyond August, he said.

Any deal would likely include covenants protecting academic freedom and the rights of faculty members to choose the curriculum and textbooks they will follow, Gunn said.

"I have no reservations about that," he said.

Despite its attempts at legitimacy, the peace academy remains a front for Moon's "destructive cult," said Cynthia Kisser, executive director of the Cult Awareness Network in Chicago